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Archive for the ‘leglocks’ Category

An MMA Mount Escape and a New-To-Me Sweep

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

The last time I hung out with Denis Kang we shot a series of short videos on MMA techniques.

It’s rare to get an MMA fighter who wants to show you all his best techniques, but Denis is an awesome teacher as well as a great fighter. That’s why I’ve received some great feedback about these mini-MMA-instructionals.

Today’s video is about a mount escape that’s gaining popularity in MMA. The escape can lead into a fight-ending leglock, but even if your opponent manages to counter the leglock it still sets you up for a great sweep that gets you to the top (getting to, and staying in, the top position is critically important in MMA).

The sweep portion of this series was completely new to me. I’ve since tried it out on the mat and it works great, so check out this video (it’s just over one minute long).

Posted in Denis Kang, MMA, escapes, leglocks, sweeps | No Comments »

The Very First Time I Used the Logsplitter Sweep…

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Check out this video, which shows the very first time I stumbled across the ‘logsplitter’ position. it was a complete fluke, but it still won me the match and a silver medal.

Then read on to find out what happened AFTER that competition…

Cool, huh? This is a guard variation I now use all the time because it offers both sweeping options and submission options. The best part is that nobody has any clue of what to do when they’re caught in it.

But I didn’t become competent in this position right away. In fact it took about a year for me to start working on it, and that was only because I received an email out of the blue from someone who had also been experimenting with it.

Click here for the whole story – including pictures and more video.

Posted in butterfly guard, competition, half guard, leglocks | No Comments »

Box a fighter, fight a boxer

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

“Box a fighter, and fight a boxer.” This old saying isn’t only limited to boxing – you can use the very same principle in grappling, jiu-jitsu and MMA.

In a competition, or a ‘serious’ match you DON’T want to play the other guy’s game. His game is what he’s good at.

Your goal, instead, should be to change the rules of the duel.

Here are some concrete examples and suggestions to illustrate what I’m talking about:

Does your opponent have a killer guard game? If so, then maybe YOU should pull guard on HIM, even if that’s not your normal gameplan. Alternately you could start setting up a leglock attack.
Is your opponent super strong and powerful? Maybe it’s time to switch to a mobility-based game.
Does he come from a ‘traditional’ BJJ school? Well then leglock him silly, or use positions that come from other grappling arts.
Maybe your opponent is known for his powerful grips and collar choke attacks – if so, I would strongly recommend standing guard passes.
Etc.

You’re probably getting the idea by now. Sometimes it’s NOT about using the techniques you do best. Instead it becomes all about doing what’s worst for your opponent.

Usually this will also be a technique or strategy that he doesn’t expect, or a situation that he isn’t faced with in training very often.

Hit ‘em where they least expect it. And where they leastdefend it!

Posted in leglocks, the guard, unorthodox strategies | No Comments »

The Reverse Mount; Another Unorthodox BJJ Position

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Stephan Kesting teaching the “Reverse Mount” position
at a recent seminar on Unorthodox Positions and Attacks

The first time I saw the Reverse Mount I was at an Erik Paulson seminar. My reaction was something like “yeah, right….”

I honestly thought that Erik had run out of high percentage things to teach and was now just making stuff up.

Knowing Erik though, I really shouldn’t have doubted him…

As soon as I used the reverse mount in sparring I realized that my opponent had no clue about what to do. In addition, the pressure on his diaphragm turned out to be quite intense, making it hard for him to breath.

This is an application of choking your opponent’s diaphragm instead of his neck.

Difficulty breathing = panic = doing something stupid = easy submission! I finished my partner with a submission and that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

After that I started using it fairly regularly. I even won the a BJJ tournament with it: I started in North South, jumped up and forward to get to Reverse Mount, and then sunk in a kneebar (a breakdown of that finish, and a video of it, made it into my Dynamic Kneebars DVD).

It’s funny, before you identify something as a position it just looks like a wacky tangle of legs and arms. You think to yourself “how could I ever end up in that silly position?”

But after you isolate it and give it a name you start seeing it much more often. Grapplers may not mean to end up there, but they do anyway.

And you see this position even at the highest levels: I remember watching two top ranked fighters in Pride end up in this position and stalemate there for what seemed like hours (in reality it was probably only a few minutes).

It’s so unusual that the vast majority of people trapped on the bottom have no idea how to escape from here or even what kind of submissions to expect

(To my loyal readers I’ll spill the beans and tell you that most of the attacks from here involve leglocks, but don’t tell anyone…)

Knowing how to apply a few so-called ‘specialty’ positions can be an absolute ace up your sleeve!

Posted in competition, leglocks, positions, teachers, unorthodox strategies | No Comments »

A BJJ and MMA Application for the iPhone & iPod Touch

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Today I’d like to tell you about my brand new application for the iPhone and the second generation iPod Touch. It’s called “Grapplearts Submissions“, and it’s the very first tool of it’s kind for learning BJJ, submission grappling or MMA techniques.

(We’re still tweaking the application to work properly with first generation iPod Touch, so if you have one of these stay tuned and I hope to have good news for you soon)

This application is designed so that you can learn grappling anywhere.

The idea is that you can learn the armbar from mount while riding the bus, or remind yourself of the key points for the triangle choke while waiting in line! Now you can bring your techniques with you to class and drill them with your friends!

Click here to see the application page on iTunes (if you have iTunes installed on your computer), or click here for the info page on Grapplearts.com.

This application is designed to be used on your iPhone or second generation iPod Touch. There are 31 different armlock, leglock and choke entries, AND we show you the details that make those submissions work. In addition, we plan to add other techniques to future updates, which you’ll get free!

A quick note: this is a big application because it has LOTS of video instruction. That’s why you need a wifi network if you want to download it to your iphone directly.

If you don’t have a wifi network then just use iTunes to download the app (search for “Grapplearts Submissions” in the iTunes store). Then synch your phone, just like you do for your music, calenders, etc.

About the price: my co-developers begged, whined and pleaded until I agreed to initially release it at at the nominal cost $0.99 (for the first week only). I personally think that this low price is a mistake, but compromise is the soul of partnership…

After March 27th I’ll raise the price for sure.

So here’s how to get the application, and some links to more information about it:

Click here to open iTunes to the application page (if you have iTunes already installed)
Or you can open iTunes manually and search for “Grapplearts Submissions” in the iTunes store
Download iTunes for free
Visit the iPhone page on Grapplearts for screen shots and a detailed list of contents
Go to the Grapplearts Submission Application on Facebook (become a Grapplearts fan!)
Click here to see a demonstration of the application on Youtube

Finally, if you DON’T have an iPhone or an iPod Touch then I’d still be eternally grateful if you could help get the word out to the grapplers and MMA enthusiasts you know who DO have these tools.

Posted in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, armlocks, chokes, iphone, leglocks, training | No Comments »

New DVD – "Step-by-Step Submissions"

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

I just want to tell people that I’m adding another DVD to my Roadmap for BJJ Package. It’s tentatively titled “Step-by-Step Submissions”.

This new video will be in a different format from my other DVDs. Basically it’s a reference tool so you can quickly look up the steps and the key points for the most important no-gi submissions. Think of it as the Cole’s Notes for chokes and joint locks.

Featured on “Step-by-Step Submissions” are 31 setups for 10 different submissions. Each setup is first broken down into the correct sequence and then shown at ‘action speed.’ I also go into the key details that ‘make or break’ each choke or lock.

So here’s the deal:

This DVD is in the final stages of editing. If everything goes according to plan I should be able to start shipping it out in about 3 to 4 weeks.

Everyone who has already bought the Package gets this new DVD shipped to them for free as soon as it’s ready. No shipping, no postage, no nothing.

Everyone who buys the Package between now and when the new DVD is released will get everything else shipped to them right away (i.e. no waiting), and then I’ll also send you “Step-by-Step Submissions DVD” as soon as it’s done. Again, the shipping is on me.

Check out the Roadmap for BJJ Package here!

BTW – I think that the addition of yet another DVD takes an already great product and makes it a fantastic product, but of course I’m a little biased

Posted in Grapplearts DVDs, armlocks, chokes, leglocks, techniques | No Comments »

Leglocking Interview

Sunday, May 4th, 2008

I recently had a great discussion with Dan and Caleb from TheFightwork’s Podcast about the role of leglocks in Brazilian jiu- jitsu. We discussed a lot of things leglock, including how to train them safely, how to use them to help augment your guard passing game, and how their role has changed and evolved within the sport. Check the interview out on the site or download it to your iPod.

Posted in Injuries, leglocks | No Comments »